Maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain, offspring DNA methylation and later offspring adiposity: findings from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

Our data suggest that both maternal obesity and, to a larger degree, underweight affect the neonatal epigenome via an intrauterine mechanism, but weight gain during pregnancy has little effect. We found some evidence that associations of maternal underweight with lower offspring adiposity and maternal obesity with greater offspring adiposity may be mediated via increased DNA methylation.